boxwood

1925 Boxwood is a light industrial development located within the Greenrock Industrial Development, between the Island Highway and Bowen Road. The industrial-commercial project is composed of two buildings. One building provides a series industrial service and repair spaces, with front facades that face the neighbouring commercial building across the common drive aisle. These industrial service spaces are also accessible from the rear of the building for large semi truck distribution. The second building offers a mixture of industrial commercial and retail spaces to the development.

The form and character of the two buildings were developed to provide visually interesting massing, that uses a mixture of contemporary materials which embrace elements of our costal region. Additional massing dynamics were created at the most suitable and efficient locations facing the street, inner plaza and round-about. The diverse mix of future tenants allowed the design to break the typical sense of monotony with predetermined but flexible facade options and concepts. Every unit is distinct from any other unit by panel and material composition together with the use of "de Stijl" Colour schemes. A little "Mondriaan" theme can be found at the corner of Building 1. An interesting note is that it was around 1925 that "de Stijl" was at its peak. To provide colours that are much more vibrant than anything else that was available locally, high quality melamine panels were selected. These panels have created the desired colour punch that activates the industrial facades of the buildings. Similar to Mondrian’s 1920s designs, these buildings highlight strong reds, yellows and blues that are typical to the de Stijl colour palette, on a grey three dimensional canvas, instead of white.

Location: Nanaimo, BC
Completed: Phase 1, 2020
In Progress: Phase 2